all right, guys, we've got everything we could possibly need from 3m to protect your

eyes, your nose, your throat. come get geared up. we've got susan and all of the guys here from amiano & son construction. you ready to start taking this place apart? all right, let's do it. so, we've got to get everything out of the office. all the furniture, anything in there has got to go. and then here we're either going to get all of the fabric out. we're actually going to take down the closet right there. got my electrician right here. your job is to get that ceiling fan down. >> all right. >> we'll meet in the middle when it's all said and done. ♪ >> oh, geez. why don't i just forget that i saw that. wall it off. one of the cool things we're doing here for brenda is we're souping up her audio/video.

two tvs, one in each room. dave, what exactly are we going to do for brenda? >> right now we're running a line to her -- she has directv so rear running a line to her dish outside. obviously, it would be easy to drill a hole outside and leave a wire hanging out there but we're fishing it through the wall. they're putting a custom built cabinet on the wall. directv will live down here, and we're going to fish a wire through the wall. it will look nice and clean and she'll have a nice tv. >> the floors here, brenda, we're using a cool product. a hybrid between a laminate and hardwood. it's a hardwood gut goes in like a laminate. it's a lot looker. you can sand it down and change the color. you can do that three times. with a laminate floor, if you try to sand it, you'll end up with particle board.

also being tongue and groove, all you do is line it up, snap it in and away we go. "george to the rescue" is sponsored in part by 3m ♪ most paints have color that sits on the surface. but nothing beats benjamin moore's color lock technology that locks color right in, no matter how often you wash it. color lock technology. exclusively from your benjamin moore retailer. find your perfect color at your local benjamin moore retailer. visit benjaminmoore.com.

. once you feel your wall is nice and smooth, you've sanded off all the imperfections, it is now thirsty and it wants some paint. we're using benjamin moore's iceberg blue. the only way to get this color is to use benjamin moore paint. because of their interlock technology, because of their ingredients, their formula and

how it's all put together, they are the only ones who can come up with this particular color. now, i've often toyed with the idea of putting a decorative mural in my kids' room but i was a little afraid and i definitely don't want to mess it up here at brenda's so we brought in artist brian cohen here. appreciate you being on "to the rescue" here with us. >> thank you. >> what is your plan? >> one side is going to be a sunrise and then we'll transition the light other to the other side of the wall which will be a sunset. >> you make it sound so easy, but i see we have tons of different ben moore paints out, all the colors of the rainbow. then i have this solution, which looks like a wallpaper glue, but it's not. >> right. this is -- it's a glazing liquid. it's a clear translucent medium we use to keep the products wet so that we can blend them one color into the next. ♪

>> we've got all of our cabinets here today. these are all the sides of the shelves. these are all -- >> the shelves themselves? >> the shelves themselves. we have our own wood shop built outside here. why did we do that? >> on this project the ceilings are low, less than seven feet, so it's hard to stand up the shelves. we'll build them before we set them in. >> normally you see custom cabinetry built somewhere else and then brought to the home and installed. here we're basically building the custom cabinetry right outside brenda's house. >> right. doesn't get any more custom than that. >> i'm definitely comfortable with the construction side of this rescue, but i don't know anything about sewing so i'm going to catch up with brenda here at aloft and get a lesson or two.

>> george! >> hey, brenda. >> how are you? it's good to see you. >> i'm good. i'm good. i just stopped by for my sewing lesson. >> come on in. i have good faith in you. if you can handle power tools, you can handle the two sewing machines i have here. the more you press on the pedal, the faster you're going to go. ♪ >> you're doing very good with straight lines here, george. take that pin out. >> i am going to take this pillowcase and i'm going back to your house, take a quick nap, and then i'm going to finish the rescue, all right? >> thank you, sweetie.

now that i've had that sewing lesson, i know exactly what we need to get for brenda.

what are you doing? >> i was thinking this might look good on you, like as a hug wrap. we could just try it. >> if not assist a hug wrap, maybe as a cape. i might just start wearing this as a toga, you know. from here on out, when i show up to rescue somebody, i knock on the door, they will know i'm here to hammer some nails and make their house better just by seeing my cape toga. >> george to the rescue! >> susan, i got bernina sewing machine. >> i got the fabric. >> let's go back to brenda's. >> let's go.

every great sewing table needs a great chair. and for bren dashda, we have gi her a throne. all the furniture from custom. we just have to get it set up so she can make some hug wraps. >> it's not on the legs. >> moving it. slipping it, sliding it. >> so, if we turn it. no. >> maybe not. >> nope. that's not right. let's go. let's flip it. >> ow! >> oh, gosh. are you all right? >> i'm good. >> i don't mean to hurt my designers. that's not what "george to the rescue" is all about. all right. put the table there now? >> yes, temporarily. >> temporarily. that's a trademark move i have right there. don't try it at home.

i have had my sewing lesson, but the true test whether or not i can actually build and set up the hug wrap sewing room. ♪ >> no idea what i'm doing here. i have no idea. i mean, i am plumb stumped. but we're going to figure this out. down here, according to the picture. i'm really good with pictures, which is nice they gave me some pictures to work with. guys, this place looks amazing. i've had so much fun rescuing with both of you. now i just can't wait to see brenda's face. >> the shelves look great. she has so much storage now, she'll be very happy. >> it's going to mean a lot to her and her business. she's just really going to be doing wonderful things for people. >> let's go get her and get some hugs. >> let's get her. ♪

most paints have color that sits on the surface. but nothing beats benjamin moore's color lock technology that locks color right in, no matter how often you wash it. color lock technology. exclusively from your benjamin moore retailer. find your perfect color at your local benjamin moore retailer. visit benjaminmoore.com.

when i heard brenda's story, it really hit home. my grandmother passed away when i was 16 from breast cancer. and so this really felt like an awesome opportunity to help somebody who really needed the help and who was helping other people. and she's just such an amazing person. and i'm just -- i really feel blessed to be able to help her. >> when she finally sees the end result, i think it's just going to be an amazing experience for brenda. she probably will feel like she has support behind her with her cause. whenever you have support, just makes you feel a whole lot better.

>> hey, hey, brenda! oh. somehow i knew i was going to get a hug out of this today. >> i know, i know. i'm so excited to see your face right now. >> oh, i've been so excited to see your face and show you what we've been doing upstairs. you do so many amazing things on a daily basis. so come here and help you and hug wraps, it's amazing for me and everybody working on the project. one more hug. >> thank you, sweetheart. >> ready to see what we've done? >> yes. >> are you ready to see the new headquarters for hug wraps? >> yes, i am. >> all right. let's go. welcome back home. three, two, one, take a look. >> oh, george. oh, george. george. look at this.

george. >> we had to make sure you had all the supplies and that you had places to put all your fabric. >> this is perfect. this is absolutely exactly what i wasn't able to do and you did. this is amazing. you have thought of everything, george. i'm just so grateful. i hope you realize that. >> i do. i do. brenda, we're not even done yet. >> i don't think i can take much more. >> i know every morning you go to your computer, see your e-mail, see who's written into you for a hug wrap and what work you have for today. this is where you create the hug wraps. how about you say we go check out the office. are you ready? >> yes, i think so, george. >> all right. take a look. >> oh, my god, is this the same

room? george! you've changed everything. oh, my -- george. i said many times before, and i truly am so, so grateful that george answered my plea. that the show does what they do in helping so many people with so many needs that they might have. and i am deeply humbled. and i -- every time i walk into either one of my rooms, i will remember their support. >> brenda, you know that on the rescue, i'm never able to do it by myself. a lot of people came out. a lot of love was poured into this room.

of course, everyone wanted to come here and see -- >> oh, yes, hello! hello! >> brenda, from susan to lou and everybody around here, this is the team that comprises "george to the rescue," the people that made this rescue possible. so, it's all for you and all for hug wraps. >> thank you very much. i really was -- i mean, i walk into those two rooms and i can feel every single pair of hands and every single heart that went into doing what you've done to help me with hug wraps. and, you know, every time i walk into those rooms, i'll know each and every one of you had a part in this. and it's just going to make my life a lot easier with the work i'm going to do with making hug wraps. i thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your time, your effort and your love. >> everybody else here was involved. guys, give it up one more time for brenda. for susan, lou, all the people you brought in to help us, thank

you. >> that was great. >> you know, you were the very first turkey i have ever gotten to know. oh, hey, here he comes! bob, you come to get in on the action? okay, i'm going to stay away. i don't want to get too close. i understand. doing my best to talk turkey. come o give me one in return. come on, one gobble, fred! yes, that's what i'm talking about! all right, till next time, guys.

this morning on "meet the press," just one month until election day. has the race taken a new turn? what a difference a debate makes. >> mr. president, you're entitled to your own airplane and house but not to your own facts. >> romney delivers. the president tries to recover. >> when i got off the stage, i met this very spirited fellow who claimed to be mitt romney. >> the economy is again the central focus. the new jobs numbers drop the unm employment rate below 9%. >> we have made too much progress. >> a sign of recovery as the voters head to the polls. we cover it all this morning.

the policy fight emerging from the debate and the policy. what does the debate reveal about these two men? plus, our preview of the vice presidential debate this coming week. this morning, a special panel. obama campaign senior adviser robert gibbs. former republican presidential candidate newt gingrich. hilary rosen. mike murphy. and nbc's chief white house correspondent and political director chuck todd. and finally, what you haven't heard from arnold schwarzenegger this week. a revealing conversation with the former california governor. he talks politics and his personal failings. >> what would you like your sons to learn from your mistakes? >> i think that they're not going to make the same mistakes. from nbc news in washington, "meet the press" with david gregory. and good morning. one month ago, and so much to get to.

i want to get right to our roundtable discussion this morning, anchored by our own mini debate. joining me former white house press secretary and adviser to the obama campaign robert gibbs. newt gingrich. republican strategist and columnist for "time" magazine mike murphy. democratic strategist hilary rosen. and our own political director and chief white house correspondent chuck todd, who just can't wait for new polls to see where we are. is this race in a different place? we'll get to that as the hour rolls on. we have to talk about the debate, we have to look ahead, but also the reminder, speaker gingrich, this is really about the economy. new jobs numbers came out on friday. are they a game changer in terms of how people perceive the economy? this is "the washington post" front page. certainly not something that the romney team wanted to see. the line graph showing 7.8% unemployment when obama takes office in january 2009. here we are in september of 2012. lowest since he took office.

does this change anything? >> sure. i think it was a significant help to the president. imagine it came out at 8.2 following that debate. people would have entered this weekend saying that's close to the end. so i think it's part of the whole process. this campaign will go down to the end, i think. it's going to be one of the most interesting campaigns in american history. and i think you're going to see it go back and forth some over the next week. on the other hand, friday, the international monetary fund said probably no recovery until 2018. and that's a very sobering number. >> robert gibbs, it is particularly weak. you have 40% of those who have been out of work, out of work for six months or longer. this is a weak economic recovery. >> it's a stronger economic recovery in terms of jobs produced than we saw out of the 2001 recession. and the important thing, david, is we continue to make progress. 31 consecutive months now of private sector job growth. certainly we are not where we want to be. it has taken us as you saw from that graphic four years to dig

out of this enormous hole that we were in. and the question going forward is, how are we going to rebuild that economy from the middle out? how are we going to make sure that folks have hope and opportunity, a good education? we bring back some of the manufacturing jobs and continue on this path to progress. >> there is a reality that on the campaign stump, mitt romney has been denied a line that he's been relying on when it comes to 8% unemployment, which was a significant marker. this is how he's been talking about it this fall. >> we've had 43 straight months with unemployment above 8%. he said that he'd create jobs, and instead we have unemployment now still over 8% for 43 straight months. >> the symbolism, mike murphy, is there for everyone to see. you get below 8% it matters. >> it becomes a good political club for the obama folks. but fundamentally, i don't think america woke up and said, hey, everything is fixed. we feel great. you can still see the economic worry. the middle class has been buried

for four years. i think what's changed is not statistics out of d.c. i think we make a lot of that. it's the perception out in the states. >> but that's been a great point, chuck. when you see people feel better about the economy -- >> well, especially in certain places like in ohio, like virginia where the economy has performed better than the national average. but, you know, it is this, you know, the obama campaign, their belief in this, has been since sort of the bill clinton explanation of digging out of this hole, has been that ultimately that last sliver of swing voters is going to say, ok, let's not change horses mid stream. they are making a classic incumbent case of saying, it's not great, but, hey, do you want to start over? and i go back. i remember watching a couple of focus groups. there was one out in nevada with some working women. and one woman said, i'm not happy with obama. i'm not happy with the economy. but, god, i don't want to have to start over. there's this perception. so that to me is a tricky thing for romney.

romney has got to sort of make this case that, hey, we're not going to rip everything out by the roots, right, which is of course what some in his base do want to have happen. but i'm going to create a better recovery, a faster recovery. so i think that that's what this 8% means, right? it means he's got to be more nuanced in that argument where the president can simply sit there and make that same case. do you really want to start over? >> and another point too, which is that for the wealthy, life has been pretty good over the last several years. the stock market has doubled. ceo pay is way up. the long-term unemployed, and those jobs that were lost under the bush administration that president obama has restored in manufacturing and the like, the key number for them is, who do i trust to take my long-term unemployment needs, my middle class family's needs, to the next level? so i think that the combination of people just trusting

president obama more, if you're middle class, and that he has delivered on what he said he would in terms of getting us out of this hole is a powerful -- >> murphy doesn't buy that. >> no, that's their message. but i think we're missing the biggest thing that's happened in the campaign. economic things out of washington is one thing. but 80 million people finally got an unfiltered look at mitt romney, and they liked what they saw. and i think you'll see credible polls this week showing significant movement in the swing states and a much closer race. that's the big factor right now. >> let me put this in a different format, because we all sit in washington and get all these numbers. the average american goes outside and says, ok, 600,000 part-time jobs, 114,000 full-time jobs. gasoline the highest in history. do i feel better? or in the real world, can my cousin still not find work? in the real world, is every small business in my neighborhood still stressed? and i think the reason obama has never been able to pull away, even when romney had two pretty bad weeks, is that in the end

there's this rubber band effect that they go, well, i'd almost like to give him another shot, but this is really frightening and really painful. >> well, nobody is ever going to pull away in this political system. so that's never going to happen. we always -- >> no, i disagree. i think he could have. if there was a moment to pull away, and the only thing that snaps it back is this feeling of things aren't -- >> the race was always going to be close. i don't think anybody would deny that. but let's be clear. let's look at where we've come. 800,000 jobs were being lost the first time the president read the unemployment report. i know these are just statistics for people in washington. that's real lives in america. 31 consecutive months of positive job growth. are we growing as fast as we'd like to? no. but it takes a long time to dig out of this avalanche of tremendously bad decisions that preceded the obama presidency. and let's understand this. one thing they saw in the debate was clear. mitt romney's plan is to go back to a failed economic theory of

tax cuts for the very rich, despite the fact that he denied the existence of tax cuts or the existence of math. the notion that let's go to war on wall street -- go to war with "sesame street" but give wall street a big wet kiss. that's exactly what got us into this mess. >> that's not what they saw. i get the interpretation. you have a campaign to win. but what they saw was one guy who seemed to be someone they'd never seen before. he shattered the fiction of the advertising. he was a guy brimming with new ideas and energy. and they saw the president of the united states sleep walking. >> mike, i don't think -- >> let me finish. the tired contrast rang a bell. romney has ideas, and the president has no vision for his second term. and i think that's what hurt him. >> mike, i don't doubt this was someone they had never seen before. i think there were people in the romney campaign who had never seen this candidate. a week ago paul ryan was asked to explain the math of a $4.8 trillion tax cut. and he said i don't have time. mitt romney said we just don't

do math. like math doesn't exist. let me finish. you simply cannot wish away the existence of your entire campaign platform. as inconvenient as it may be when somebody says to you, ok, if you're going to reduce revenue by $4. trillion, you're not going to tell us one loophole you'd close, you're not going to run up the deficit or taxes on the middle class. >> very quickly -- >> no, no. it goes back to bill clinton. >> there was a story out yesterday that that claim is fiction because you don't count the loophole closing. >> what loophole? >> he talked about mortgage interest. really quickly -- >> mortgage interest? >> he has never talked about mortgage interest. >> the hilarity that there is one -- >> we have one loophole. >> mike, finish, but then i want to get on to something else. >> the president says he wants to lower tax cuts to big corporations. how to pay for it? loopholes. what loopholes? nothing. we'll tell you after the election. you're attacking romney for the same thing. >> i want to talk about the gas

prices. one thing that was striking, speaker gingrich, is what some were arguing about the actual numbers. jack welch made a lot of headlines with a tweet that said, unbelievable jobs numbers. these chicago guys will do anything. can't debate so they change the numbers without any substantiation. he was on "hardball" with chris matthews and this is how he explained it. >> i've reviewed 14 businesses this week. from restaurants to widgets. i have seen everybody with a third quarter equal to or weaker than the first quarter. in order to get 873,000 new jobs, you would have to have a g.d.p. going at 4% to 5%. the second quarter was downgraded from 1.7% to 1.3%. the third quarter is not going to be very strong. it just defies the imagination to have a surge larger than any

surge since 1983 a month before the election. i leave it to you to do all the analysis. >> one of the most important ceos in america. formerly of general electric. does this ring true? >> well, it rings true to me. since it's a survey, is this outside of the statistical bounds of their survey, which is plausible but irrelevant. but you have a president who says last budget got zero votes in the last senate. zero democrats voted for his last budget. the president of the united states so deeply distrusted by people like jack welch who is hardly a right winger. he is one of the most successful businessmen in america. welch instantly assumes this is the chicago machine. it's very -- >> stop for a minute. this is really making me crazy. the federal reserve gets questioned for politics these days. we have corroded -- what we're doing, we are corroding trust in our government in a way.

and one-time responsible people are doing to control it. and the idea that donald trump, jack welch, rich people with crazy conspiracies, can get traction on this is a bad trend. >> i assume, david, there's a number of people that believe that the real unemployment report is somewhere safe in nairobi with the president's kenyan birth certificate. this stuff is crazy. and the notion, quite frankly, that somebody as well respected as jack welch would go on television and embarrass himself for the entire day of friday by saying somehow that these statistics are made up, i agree with chuck, it's incredibly dangerous. and we wonder why institutions in this country are -- or the perception of institutions in this country are failing because people go on tv and just make stuff up. asked for evidence, he said he had none. >> the bush statistics came out

after jack welch did and said there is no way this could be. it's not possible. >> when did you stop beating your wife? >> no, no. you guys are missing the whole point. the reason people are losing respect for washington is they are losing respect for washington. it's not some right-wing crazy thing. i don't know a single small businessman or woman who believes that the next four years under obama will be good. i don't know a single small businessman or woman who expects to hire a lot more people if obama wins the election. i travel a lot. these are not conspiracy theories. they get up every day and look at taxes and what is the cost of the health insurance and the market going to be like. and they are all overwhelmly -- they have surveyed their members. >> i want to advance this from the economy to the aftermath of the debate.

the cover of the noe"the new yo mitt romney eastwooding, debating an empty chair. simple question. what happened? this couldn't have been the game plan for this president to go in and by all accounts underperform against a guy whose back was against the wall, who faced a make or break debate. >> look, david, it's not rocket science to believe that the president was disappointed in the expectations that he has for himself. but, look, i think part of that was because as i said earlier we met a new mitt romney. we met a mitt romney that wanted to walk away from the central theory of his economic plan, which is his tax cut. i don't have a tax cut that's $4.8 trillion. i'm not going to cut taxes on the rich. i don't have a medicare voucher plan. i love teachers. and i think we need more of them. look, don't believe me. speaker gingrich was pretty eloquent running during the primaries and saying, mitt romney will say absolutely anything to get elected. and if somebody says absolutely anything to get elected you have

to wonder what they'll say when they are president of the united states. >> so, speaker, you did say he was fundamentally dishonest after debating him in the primaries. this is not a new attack against romney policy. >> no. and i think that the challenge for the obama people is pretty simple. the president of the united states had 90 minutes. now, if he had done his homework and actually prepared, if he had actually studied romney, why didn't he say it? why didn't he take romney head on? first of all, the charges on the tax cuts are plain wrong, and i think virtually every analyst has said and even your deputy campaign manager said the charges made are wrong. but forgetting that for a second, the job of the president is supposed to be to competent and stand up for what he believes in and articulate what's wrong. mitt romney walked over him. it's funny that the eastwood now -- just as mr. green paid for this microphone was one of ronald reagan's breakthrough

moments, the weird moment with clint eastwood may be that as well. >> the big knock against governor romney here is that he walked away from a $5 trillion tax cut plan. he assumes that tax cuts for growth to make the math work, simpson-bowles says his math doesn't add up. that something has to give. you explode the deficit, raise middle class tax cuts, something has to give which is the point that rob was trying to make. >> something has to give. and mike just said maybe the thing that gives is mortgage interest deduction. the single most important thing to middle class american families. and that's going to be -- and we'll get to this later -- that will be a challenge for paul ryan. but, you know, i think that what we are experiencing right now, and we just said it, is that this sort of style over substance is -- i don't think it's going to overtake this race. i think you had a president who was trying to move the facts out. was facing a guy who he hasn't seen before. either mitt romney is completely

faking everything he said or he is a liar. so either way. >> when you say style over substance shouldn't matter, the truth is optics are important. >> ask richard nixon. >> well, i was going to go to that, because i do think in fairness it is fair for the american people to want to see their president fight for them. and the barack obama every day that they see on the campaign trail, the barack obama we saw in wisconsin the day after the debate, is a president who is fighting for them. and this president has to do that in those moments when there are millions of people watching on tv. >> here is an example of the closing statement by the president that people felt was so lackluster. watch a clip of this. >> you know, four years ago, i said that i'm not a perfect man, and i wouldn't be a perfect president. and that's probably a promise that governor romney thinks i've kept. >> mike murphy. >> well, yeah. the president -- as the speaker

said, the president got a huge chunk of unfiltered television time and lost the debate because he had nothing to say. that is a fundamental problem of the obama campaign. they have the thinnest election brochure ever. very short on accomplishments. huge national debt. none of the jobs promised. now trying to start a parade about economic statistics and saying things are now just as bad as they were when he started. what i think really worked in the debate was romney seemed like a guy with energy and ideas and the president didn't. it's no surprise that the president's campaign strategy is character attacks. if they can bury romney, they can win no matter what. but the debate changed the race. >> but style has always mattered in these things. it is sort of that feel that you get for a candidate, whether it was kennedy, nixon, carter and ford, reagan and carter. we can go through it time and again. when reagan lost the first debate, mondale looked like he had energy and idea and reagan looked listless. that is one thing i guess the obama people can say, we've seen other -- bush and reagan had bad first debates and recovered.

it's recoverable because there are more debates. but this was bad. and his own supporters -- i went to a denver rally. to a person they were like, what was that? what was this guy? and they were your supporters, robert. >> but, look, let's dispense with style. i don't doubt that style is important. but let's understand exactly -- i want to drill down on that. >> the president who loved style dispensing with style. >> this president is serious about substance and is wondering whether it is that mitt romney went with his substance. i had a white board last night. i should have brought it. there is a $4. trillion in revenue. you cut according to mitt romney's own plan there's a 20% rate reduction from the bush tax cuts. we'll end the estate tax. we're going to cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%. you cannot sit here, mr. speaker, or anybody can't sit here and say, that doesn't require a reduction in the amount of revenue by 4.8 trillion. this is math. >> i'll say it right now.

>> moderates, liberals, everybody says here is the problem. you guys won't give him any credit for closing loopholes because like you guys he won't name the loopholes. why? you'll attack him for doing it. >> this is important. >> if there is substance -- you keep bringing up substance. let me hear some obama substance. your substance is to attack romney. that's the whole campaign. where was the president's vision? if he had a couple of sharp ideas, he would have had a better debate. >> the president talked about his health care plan, and mitt romney said my health care plan will do the same thing. >> i do think there's an issue here of whether something has to give. again, you can talk about fact checkers. simpson and bowles, i spoke to them and romney praises them. the math doesn't add up. somebody has to give. you have to specify where the deductions are. you can't increase defense

spending, extend the bush cuts, 20% on top of that, and just say, no, it's going to be ok, we'll grow our way into it. that does raise a fair amount of scrutiny. >> sure. i think that's legitimate. first of all, romney has said to the degree they can't get the loopholes closed in congress, he'll reduce the tax credit. that he'll stick to the principle that it will pay for itself. there's a general argument over whether you should count economic growth. simpson and bowles don't count economic growth. two harvard experts said higher growth. third, romney has an energy plan which expanding american oil and gas. the royalties alone are worth $750 billion a year to the federal government. fourth, look carefully at what romney said, that the true supply sides don't necessarily love but it's good politics. he said i will close enough deductions that wealthy americans will not get a net tax cut.

now, that's a pretty clear description. >> let me just say this. standing on the stage with you in arizona, this is what mitt romney said. number one, i said today we're going to cut taxes on everyone across the country, by 20%, including the top 1%. mr. speaker, you mentioned that your opponent, mitt romney, had a problem with being dishonest in the primary. my question is, was he dishonest when he said that? >> i think it's clear he changed. >> we don't disagree that he changed. >> let me do this. i want to get a break in. there's several different directions we're going to keep going talking about the economy and the aftermath of the debate. and we want to look forward to the next debate, which is biden and ryan. we also want to go inside the numbers with chuck todd for a look at how the campaign is feeling good. the romney campaign, after the first debate, looking at some of the enthusiasm. later, my conversation as i mentioned with arnold schwarzenegger. much more to come with our special panel right after this. "meet the press" is brought to you by the boeing company. we know why we're here.

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excuse me, governor. mr. president. >> i'm sorry. yeah, yeah, what's up? >> mr. president, governor romney has just said that he killed osama bin laden. [ laughter ] would you care to respond? >> no. you two go ahead. [ laughter ] >> robert gibbs, i want to get you on the record on this. what specifically does the president have to do better in the next debate? >> well, look, i think you're going to see a very engaged president that is ready and willing to call out whichever mitt romney shows up. >> that's not the president who showed up in the first debate. >> again, i'm not going to take away from mitt's masterful, theatrical performance. he did a superb acting job. he did everything but learn tactic. >> one of the things we're

measuring is waiting for the polls to reflect the debate. does what you're seeing in the numbers reflect the enthusiasm? >> this is before the debate. we had a likely voter model that had the president only up 3%. the question is why. what is going on that has republicans doing better and becoming more likely voters? it's simply an enthusiasm gap. and we're seeing it across the board. look in the first one. 79% of republicans call themselves extremely interested in this election. on a scale of one to 10, they say they are a 9 or 10 on interest in the election. 73% of democrats. look at four years ago. it was a 13-point gap in favor of the democrats. let me go through some various voting groups. this is an important voting group. seniors are important to mitt romney now. he leads them by about 10 points. look at this and engagement in the election. four years ago, 81%. pretty high. even higher this time at 87%. and romney is doing better among seniors than mccain did. let me go to an important voting group for the president. young voters.

look at this engagement level. 52% now that call themselves of voters 18 to 34 call themselves extremely interested in this election. four years ago, it was 72%. that 20-point gap. the president wins young voters by huge margins. he is winning by some 20-plus points. but if you don't have the enthusiasm, they are not going to show up to the polls. and the last one here, this is i think the most important one and that's hispanics. the president is winning ÷zspanics by 50 points. however, look at this in terms of interest in the election. 59% now. it was 77%. what does that mean? the president got 65%, i believe, of the hispanics four years ago. even though he'll get more hispanics, if less of them turn out, it's a net zero. and yet you look at republican enthusiasm up, senior enthusiasm up, it's a huge problem. and by the way, all of this, predebate. >> hilary rosen, one of the things you've been talking about is the president record. how he runs on his record but

also leans forward as well. david brooks' column on friday struck me, complimentary of governor romney, and he wrote this about the challenge for the president. politically, the president will have to go back to portraying romney as a flip flopper instead of an idea log. so far obama has seemed driven by the negative passion of stopping republican extremism. he'll have to develop a positive passion for something he actually wants to do in a second term. >> yeah. well, i think he might be right to this degree. but president obama has a record. we have completely changed how education is being evaluated. the president's race to the top. support for community colleges. we have invested in new alternative energies because everybody knows despite what mitt romney said that the only way we're going to become energy independent is with a mix of energy sources. he has provided health care, so much to the extent that mitt romney started to claim credit again for what he could do in health care.

this actually is a president with a record beyond just digging us out of our jobs hole. and i think, though, that it's important when we look at the going forward. going forward isn't just about the economy. because people don't live in that binary world where they only care about the economy. yes, it's the most important issue. but if you're a mom, worried about your reproductive health, and having to buy insurance separately from your family to pay for that, you know, that is an extra burden on your economic issues. if you're an immigrant, you know, worrying about whether you're family is going to be deported our your kid is going to be able to stay in high school, that's an extra burden that you have to worry about. if you're a gay or lesbian worried about whether you're going to get fired from your job because president obama wants to protect your job and mitt romney doesn't, that's an extra thing you have to worry about. i think americans actually live in a very holistic world. and president obama gets that, and mitt romney doesn't. >> i'm amused that every time

there's a question about the president's vision it's 17 words to attack mitt romney. if they were out and run a debate and they were running a campaign now with interesting new ideas to get people excited about voting for them, they'd be in better shape. instead, they are running the old political campaign. i know it well. called zero sum. the other guy is worse, the other guy is worse, the other guy is worse. that was working. romney was in trouble. then romney got an unfiltered shot. and everybody has taken a second look at him. the real question to me for the campaign is can the romney campaign take this moment and run with it. if so, the obama campaign which will only get more negative, that's what fear does to a campaign, will look smaller and smaller. >> i know you want to respond, but can i just talk tactics here? speaker, are we going to see mitt the moderate now? is this what he's doing with this second look? he talks about he doesn't want to gut financial reform. >> he said that back in january. >> touting health care instead

of talking about replacing it all the time? >> he is talking about replacing obama care, which is part of how he pays for his tax cuts. he cuts out all the spending put into obama care. let me go back to one example hilary used. 86% of the country favors an energy independence plan which romney is campaigning on. ohio, five counties in eastern ohio that have five billion barrels of oil. something people didn't even know a year and a half ago. all of a sudden you have an explosion of new energy sources in this country. that's why romney talks about okaying the keystone pipeline. romney has two big -- >> domestic drilling is at an all-time high. >> just very quickly, romney now has two great advantages that reagan had. first, there are real substantive differences in the two approaches. the second is every time they run a truly vicious ad, and then you see romney in a debate, he's not the person they are running the ad about. that's exactly what happened to

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